A communication apparatus, connected to a network such as the Internet, which receives a mail transmitted from a server via the network by a POP3 procedure is known. In this communication apparatus, first, account authentication is performed between the apparatus and the server by using an account name and a password. When the account authentication has been completed, an inquiry is made about information in a mail box by using POP3 START command. If there is message information in the mail box, a message number is obtained by using POP3 LIST command by the number of messages, and the processing of downloading of mail message in correspondence with the obtained message number is repeated by utilizing POP3 RETR command.
Then, it is determined whether or not the obtained mail message can be printed by the communication apparatus. If the message can be printed, it is printed, otherwise, error information is printed as a report. However, in a case where the mail message stored in the mail box of the POP3 server has been downloaded in the above-described manner and the downloading of mail message from the mail box is performed again, the following problem occurs.
That is, an unprintable mail message is obtained from the server repeatedly, and as a result, error information is printed repeatedly. In this manner, a number of wasteful works occur due to repeated acquisition of unnecessary message and repeated printing of error information due to the acquisition of unnecessary message.
To solve the problem, in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 11-328060, for example, a mail message stored in a mail server is downloaded and a file attached to the mail is downloaded, then if the format of the file attached to the electronic mail is not permissible, identification information of the latest remaining mail is stored as a remaining ID, and the number of remaining mails (K) in the server at that time is stored. Upon next message acquisition, the K-th message ID and the remaining mail ID are compared with each other. If they correspond with each other, an electronic mail later than the K-th mail is received.
However, in this electronic-mail type facsimile apparatus, where the latest remaining message ID and the number of mails in the server are stored, then the K-th message ID in the server and the stored remaining message ID are compared, and a new (K+1)th electronic mail is received if the IDs correspond with each other, if the server does not always process a newly-received mail as a (K+1) mail, or if the order of reception is not stored in the server for some reason, a new electronic mail cannot be obtained.
Further, in a case where the reception of the K-th electronic mail is not permissible because of shortage of memory in the mail receiving-side apparatus, even if a sufficient memory area can be ensured upon completion of printing of already-received mail or memory expansion on the mail receiving-side apparatus, the next mail access is performed on the (K+1) electronic mail, and the previous unreceived electronic mails including the K-th mail cannot be received.